This month's newsletter is about doing less. Hopefully, it comes as no surprise that it is also a short newsletter (but, I hope, not short on insights). Recovering from burnout is no joke.
Being a life sciences communicator in a pandemic felt like living in a dystopian nightmare. I hope that I never have to drive by an anti-vaccine or anti-mask rally ever again. I also don’t want to spend two holiday seasons in a row watching death counts go up ever again.
Working hard has always helped me tackle life’s challenges. So, despite it all, I vowed to persevere. I graduated from MIT, after all, and that's no small feat.
In the height of the pandemic, all I did was work, and I loved it! In the first few months of the pandemic, I worked back-to-back 12-hour days to set up Fancy Comma’s web presence, serve various clients, and more. Over the next two years, I didn’t take a single day off of work. We almost made six figures in both 2020 and 2021! That came with a price, though: the worst work-life balance I’ve ever had, which took its toll socially, mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
Yet after about two and a half years of being a pandemic front line SciCommer, my brain and body finally started to give up. By October 2021, when I got to my office, all I could do was crawl under my desk and cry.
One day, about 2.5 years into the pandemic, as I looked at the words on the page, they did not register in my brain. All I could do was nothing. I felt like a zombie.
Burnout is a very real problem in the medical community. We’ve been ‘helpers’ too, working alongside healthcare workers and scientists to communicate science. If you don’t know what the signs of burnout are, check out this post.
I'm not sure why I couldn't break the cycle of workaholism. I definitely did not see burnout coming; I assumed I could go on working at this pace forever. It definitely didn't help that anyone I talked to about the fact that I worked so much didn't bat an eyelash. Shouldn't someone else have noticed and told me to work less? Why didn't they? At the same time, the work I was doing was really important, and it wasn't like I could just not do it.
Also, what would I do instead? I craved the simple joys of life, like walking around the mall shopping and sipping Starbucks, but that wasn’t possible: COVID-19 made being around other people dangerous, not to mention that people themselves were not OK either. Pandemic energy, especially in the Delta wave, was among the worst energy I have ever experienced in my life.
These days, I work a lot less, out of necessity. I’ve talked to other freelancers and they only work 32 hours max. A typical week for me involves three days off. The days I do work, I don’t do full eight-hour days if I can help it. I’d love to work even less.
I've been in self-imposed burnout recovery for almost two months now. This has involved working less, and being more intentional about seeking out meaningful work — and saying ‘no’ to the rest. I’ve also been making time for other things that I really enjoy: even little things like just making a cup of coffee and watching TV without feeling guilty that I’m not getting work done. I also recently started running again after being unable to do so in the pandemic. A friend also has a yoga practice on Zoom, in which I participate a couple times a week. Exercise and mindfulness have been amazing for my mental health.
For me, the hardest part about burnout recovery has been intentionally working less. In my mind, work is directly tied to success. The best part is that it’s changed my views on productivity — saying “no” to work for the sake of work means I’m freeing up my mental energies to focus on what I find deeply meaningful, and that is really exciting!
Maybe Fancy Comma will achieve my original big-picture vision of becoming a science communications company that serves marketing clients, trains science students in SciComm, and critically analyzes science reporting, among other goals. Maybe it won’t. That’s okay, though. I believe that we are making a difference out there: talking about important issues in science communication that go beyond just sitting down and writing something (though we talk a lot about that part, too).
How has the pandemic changed your work habits? Have you ever struggled with burnout? Feel free to reply to this email, tweet us @FancyComma, or leave a comment!
What we’ve been reading (and writing):
If you’re a New Years’ resolution kind of person, check out Matthew Fenton’s list of resolutions for freelancers.
For our blog, Kelly blogged about using SciComm to tackle information poverty and bridge digital divides. We also interviewed Erin Winick, a science communicator who works with NASA and the International Space Station.
I made my first Taylor Swift themed Instagram reel for Fancy Comma. Follow us on Instagram so you don’t miss our SciComm tips there!
Worried about the economy as a freelancer or small business owner? Check out this article from Harvard Business Review about how to survive a recession. I love that they emphasize the importance of decision-making!
Subkit interviewed me about entrepreneurship and leading Fancy Comma.
That’s it for the January 2023 newsletter! What would you like to read more about in the ensuing months? Let me know (if you’re an email subscriber, you can reply via email; web readers, you can leave a comment below).
We wish you a wonderful year ahead!